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Introduction

Kent is a county in the South East England region, the closest county to continental Europe. It borders Essex across the entire estuary of the River Thames to the north; the French department of Pas-de-Calais across the Strait of Dover to the south-east; East Sussex to the south-west; Surrey to the west and Greater London to the north-west. The county town is Maidstone.

It is the fifth most populous county in England, the most populous non-metropolitan county and the most populous of the Home Counties, an area influenced by the capital such as commutes and transport connections to the capital. Twenty-eight per cent of the county forms part of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty: the North Downs and The High Weald. (Full article...)

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A traditional oast at Frittenden, Kent

An oast, oast house or hop kiln is a building designed for kilning (drying) hops as part of the brewing process. They can be found in most hop-growing (and former hop-growing) areas and are often good examples of vernacular architecture. Many redundant oasts have been converted into houses. The names oast and oast house are used interchangeably in Kent and Sussex. In Surrey, Hampshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire they are called hop kilns.

They consist of a rectangular one- or two-storey building (the "stowage") and one or more kilns in which the hops were spread out to be dried by hot air rising from a wood or charcoal fire below. The drying floors were thin and perforated to permit the heat to pass through and escape through a cowl in the roof which turned with the wind. The freshly picked hops from the fields were raked in to dry and then raked out to cool before being bagged up and sent to the brewery. The Kentish dialect word kell was sometimes used for kilns ("The oast has three kells") and sometimes to mean the oast itself ("Take this lunchbox to your father, he's working in the kell"). The word oast itself also means "kiln".

The earliest surviving oast house is at Golford, Cranbrook near Tunbridge Wells. It dates from sometime in the 17th century and closely mirrors the first documentary evidence on oasts soon after the introduction of hops into England in the mid-16th century. Early oast houses were simply adapted barns, but, by the 18th century, the distinctive tall buildings with conical roofs had been developed to increase the draught. At first, these were square, but around 1800 roundel kilns were developed in the belief that they were more efficient. Square kilns remained more popular in Herefordshire and Worcestershire and came back into fashion in the southeast in the later 19th century. In the 1930s, the cowls were replaced by louvred openings as electric fans and diesel oil ovens were employed.

Hops are today dried industrially and the many oast houses on farms have now been converted into dwellings. One of the best-preserved oast house complexes is at the Hop Farm Country Park at Beltring. (Full article...)


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Dean at Dragon Con in 2008

William Roger Dean (born 31 August 1944) is an English artist, designer, and publisher. He began painting posters and album covers for musicians in the late 1960s. The groups for whom he did the most art are the English rock bands Yes and Asia.

The covers often feature exotic fantasy landscapes. His work has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide. (Full article...)

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Join the WikiProject Kent: Any help on the Kent project would be gratefully received, even if only on your local area of expertise. FAQ about editing Ask the project a question here

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Districts in Kent

Kent is divided into 12 local authority districts and Medway Unitary Authority.

  1. Sevenoaks
  2. Dartford
  3. Gravesham
  4. Tonbridge and Malling
  5. Medway
  6. Maidstone
  7. Tunbridge Wells
  8. Swale
  9. Ashford
  10. City of Canterbury
  11. Folkestone and Hythe
  12. Thanet
  13. Dover
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Did you know...

Did you know...
Did you know...


On this Day - May 22nd

  • 1991 - The main Channel Tunnel rail tunnels met, constructed from England and France, on May 22, 1991 and on June 28, 1991, each accompanied by a breakthrough ceremony
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The County

At the time of the 1831 census, Kent was the 10th largest county, covering 972,240 acres (3,934.5 km2), however by 1871 it had grown to 995,344 acres (4,028.01 km2) and became the 9th largest.

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